Better late than never, right? I hope you
agree, because I've got a hot tip on some very good speakers that are on
closeout for an absurdly low price. If you want them, you'll have to
hurry, because the supply has just about dried up. The good news is that
there's little financial risk. The SS-K70EDs are available for $200 per
pair at Circuit City. That's about $400 off the original price. I know
of no other $200 full range, floor-standing speakers that can be
considered audiophile grade. Make no mistake—their commercial failure
has nothing to do with their abilities.

Why did these end up in the clearance bin?
The Sony name, I‘m guessing. When was the last time you heard a non-ES
Sony speaker that sounded good? (I'll pause to allow you time to
reflect. There's your answer.) Selling Sony speakers for $600 a pair at
Circuit City must have been a gamble that came up craps. Despite that, a
small clique of Sony devotees have been buzzing about these speakers. I
only recently caught wind of them, and just in time, too. The SS-K70ED
is a gorgeous teardrop of a speaker that looks for all the world like a
beer-budget version of the stunning Sonus Faber Stradivari Homage.

The SS-K70EDs are serious loudspeakers. They
are built as solidly as rocks, weighing in at over 73 pounds for the
pair. Solid steel pedestals are included, along with carpet spikes and
stainless steel spike pads for delicate floors. Each speaker is
individually boxed. Only one set of beautifully simple binding posts
protrudes from each speaker's rear end, so bi-wirers need not apply. If
you feel an irrational need to support the cable industry in spite of
the often-redundant nature of bi-wirable designs, send that extra $200
to me. I'll make sure it gets to your cable manufacturer of choice—I
swear.

The SS-K70ED is a three-way, with a 6.5-inch
woofer, 10-inch carbon dome tweeter, and a B&W-esque 6.5-inch woven
Kevlar midbass driver that has led some to suspect that B&W had a hand
in the design, or at least that Sony ripped off the boys from England.
(I don't buy either theory, but stranger things have happened.) A
handsome black ash veneer wraps each cabinet, and you can tap, punch,
kick, and slap the box to your heart's content without revealing overt
resonances of any kind. Impressive.

Information on the SS-K70ED is scarce. The
bottom of the SS-K range, the SS-K10ED, is a small surround speaker,
followed by a mid-size monitor, the SSK-30ED, with the top spot occupied
by the floor-standing SS-K90ED. Bloggers say these were sold only
through Circuit City in the U.S., and widely but briefly in Canada.
Sony's website doesn't acknowledge that the model range ever existed,
though Sony India still sells them. They derive from a series of ES
models, the SS-X range, with identical model numbers and the same
drivers. These really bear a startling resemblance to the B&W 700-series
speakers, with their yellow midrange drivers, nice finish, and
Nautilus-style top-mounted tweeters. I would like to happen upon a pair,
but the SS-K70EDs seem so promising, even unbroken-in, that I'm quite
ecstatic.

I powered the SS-K70EDs with the remarkable
PrimaLuna ProLogue Two integrated amplifier, fed by a Sony DVP-NC875V
DVD/SACD player (see review in Issue 19) and a Bang & Olufsen Beogram
330 turntable with MMC 3R cartridge and the Music Hall MMF Phono Pack. I
used Audioquest Diamondback interconnects between the components, and
the speaker cable was plain-jane MonsterCable XP zip cord with the
company‘s handy Quick-Lock bananas.

The SS-K70EDs sound very special. I've only
put in about thirty hours of listening, but you needed to know about
them NOW. There was no time to lose. Here's what I can tell you based on
my preliminary listening: The SS-K70EDs have a rather dry sonic
signature that may or may not loosen up over time. Imaging is precise
and unwavering. Bass is tight, deep, and nuanced. Highs, while very
extended, are stiff, but there are hints of a silkiness to come. The
midrange is a bit warm, but so is the PrimaLuna ProLogue Two. A
different amplifier might be less euphonic—my Sony GX-60ES receiver
seemed to be.

The quoted frequency response is 42Hz to
79kHz, and that sounds right to me. These mid-sized floorstanders
produce powerful but properly scaled low frequencies, with a notable
lack of boominess or chuffing through the tapered front port. The
teardrop-shaped cabinets seem to have been designed to eliminate
standing waves. The drivers (crossed over at 300Hz and 4kHz) are well
integrated. Vocals appear to come from the top third of the speaker, as
they should, without any sharp delineation of high frequencies or a
disconnected mid- or low bass. The SS-L70EDs never seem to strain. Their
musical delivery is pretty effortless. They sound neither hyped nor
overly laid back—much like a Sony CD player.

That, I'm afraid, is all I can tell you
right now. If I waited to tell you more, you'd probably miss out on the
SS-K70EDs. I almost did. The stores in my area only had one pair each,
and one was a battered demo set. That's one pair per audiophile per
store across the U.S., if you‘re lucky.

At $200 a pair, the risk is minimal, so have
a listen and decide for yourself. Though the SS-K70EDs seem to have been
a miserable failure for Sony, they are a mind-boggling value for budget
audiophiles. Even if they were merely competent floorstanders, you will
still get much more than you paid for in sound-for-dollar and build
quality. If stylish, great sounding, full range loudspeakers have been
out of your price range, now's your chance. Ed Kobesky